Typically, in the motor vehicle field, fuel tanks are equipped with such modules and, especially for reasons of safety and ease of integration in vehicles, it is sought to integrate most functional components of the engine fuel supply system inside the tank.
One general problem is that, due to the fact that the tank constitutes a hollow body that only comprises the bare minimum of orifices, and orifices that furthermore have the smallest possible size, it may be difficult to introduce and fasten the module(s) inside this tank, especially since a precise positioning may be required.
Systems of fastening via interlocking and clipping have already been proposed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,500 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,675. In these systems, the module, after having been introduced into the hollow body via an orifice provided for this purpose, is inserted, perpendicular to the wall, into a housing provided for this purpose and snap-fastened thereto by elastic deformation of locking means provided for this purpose on the module. In such systems, the installation may be difficult since it is necessary to precisely position the module opposite its housing and to maintain this positioning while applying the locking force.
A fastening system is also known, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,353, in which the module is inserted by sliding into a slide formed in the wall of the hollow body. This slide has a general shape of a dovetail slide with rounded sides, and the module comprises parallel lips with corresponding rounded shapes in order to fit to the dovetail shapes and be able to slide therein. Furthermore, these lips may deform elastically so that, when the module is inserted by sliding into the slide of the hollow body, the lips are constrained and therefore exert a friction force intended to hold the module in place in the slide, and prevent the withdrawal thereof by sliding.
However, this system has the drawback of insufficient reliability due to the fact that the positioning and holding is provided solely by the friction between the lips of the module and the slide.